Ampule orienting means



Jam 1, 1957 R. c. JORDT 2,776,034

AMPULE ORIENTING MEANS Filed D80. 1, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l J9!) 31 246 J c' 6 IN VEN TOR. J5 fifoberi CcfO rcii, BY

29 28 24d ma R. C. JORDT AMPULE ORIENTING MEANS Jan. 1, 1957 Filed Dec. 1, 1953 b c Q m: J av 2 INVENTOR. C fa rd fi'oeri A 1A .L6 210, 17a

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United States Patent AMPULE GRIENTING MEANS Robert C. Jordt, Deerfielil, 111;, assignor, by mesne assign'ments,to G. D; Searle & Co., Skokie, 111., a corporation of Delaware- Application December 1,1953, Serial No. 395,463

4 Claims. (Cl. 19343) The present invention relates to ampule handling devices and more particularly to an ampule orientingmeans by which ampules received in random position may be automatically oriented with respect to each other as they are fed from one location to another.

In the art of commercially packaging hypodermic and other solutions in ampule form, occasions are common in which it is desirable or necessary to subject the ampules, one at a time, to some specific treatment at a station or in a machine to which the ampules must be fed successively in an orderly fashion and with uniform orientation. It is often essential, for example, that the contents of scaled ampules be inspected for the presence of dirt or foreign matter before they are passed to cartons, and it is also sometimes desirable or essential that the ampules be labeled or marked before they are finally disposed of. In these latter instances, as well as in many others, the ampules must be presented to the appropriate machine one at a time with each ampule successively taking the same relative position previously occupied by the next preceding ampule. When the ampules are fed endwise to the machines, for example, the ampules must all approach and enter the machine with the same end-for-end orientation.

The act of orienting ampules uniformly for further treatment has heretofore been a time consuming task particularly with ampules of the kind known in the art as the constrictecF type. These ampules are ordinarily rela tively small in size and have cylindrical or tubular body portions and elongated neck portions of reduced crosssection, the ampules being sealed by melting the glass at the outer extremity of their neck portions. Because of their physical characteristics and the nature of the machines used in sealing them, it has not been economically advisable to attempt to design and build the relatively expensive equipment that would be necessary to maintain constant physical control over the ampules as they are discharged from the sealing machines. As a result, it is common practice merely to let these ampules fall freely from the sealing machines into a receptacle where they come to rest in a great variety of random positions. When these ampules require further treatment, such as labeling or inspection for foreign matter, they heretofore have been manually oriented, one by one, as they have been passed into the proper machine.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive but highly reliable device for automatically orienting ampules and for eliminating the tedious and time consuming operation previously carried out manually. A further object of the invention is to provide an orienting device for ampules of the type having tubular body portions and elongated neck portions wherein the ampules received initially in mixed random positions are first subjected to means for orienting themlongitudinally and thereafter to means for giving them uniform end-for-end orientation. Another object of the invention is to provide in such an orienting device means by which the ampules are oriented longitudinally by being gravityfed downwardly into a restricted passageway. Still anwith: the passageway, arresting means for successively and "other object of the invention is to provide in combination selectively engaging the neck portions of only those ampules moving through the passageway in neck first direction, the arresting means retarding the advance of the engaged. neck portions until the momentum of the associated body portions has carried the body portions past:

the arresting means, thus longitudinally reversing the position of the engaged ampules so that all ampules emerge.

from the passageway with the same end-for-end orientation. Yet another object of the invention is to accomplish the uniform orientation of the ampules in the device just referred to wherein the device requires no moving parts and all forces employed are those resulting from gravitational forces upon the ampules. A further object of the invention is to provide in combination with the ampule orienting means a chute for directing the oriented ampules directly to a station or into a machine where they are to receive further treatment, means being provided for automatically rejecting the ampules when this chute becomes full or blocked.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig; 1 is. an elevational view showing a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section taken substantially along the line 22 in Fig. 4 showing details of the means for orienting the ampules end-for-end;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the end-for-end orienting means taken along the line 4-4 in Fig. 2, showing the device as it appears with its cover removed;

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing how certain of the ampules passing downwardly through the end-for-end orienting means are selectively turned longitudinally approximately degrees;

Fig. 6 is a transverse fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the line 66 in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on a larger scale taken substantially along the line 7-7 in Fig. 4, showing an ampule neck receiving opening and illustrating how only the neck portions of certain of the ampules penetrate the opening.

In the drawings the numeral 10 designates generally a hopper or the like into which ampules that are to be oriented may be freely dumped in random position. The hopper is preferably of cylindrical shape with an inverted, truncated cone-shaped bottom 11 having an opening in its center through which the ampules contained in the hopper are fed one by one into a chute 12 that leads diagonally' downwardly to means designated generally by the numeral 13 for orienting the ampules end-for-end. The hopper 10 may be provided with means (not shown) by which the hopper may be vibrated to prevent the ampules therein from becoming lodged against each other or against the inside walls of the hopper. It will be understood that the inverted coneshaped bottom 11 of the hopper funnels the ampules by gravity one at a time in random endwise direction downwardly through the restricted opening in the bottom of the hopper, this opening being somewhat larger in diameter than the maximum diameter of the ampules so that each ampule is fed in endwise direction into the chute 12 whereupon it is slidably passed by gravity to the end-for-end orienting means 13.

The orienting means 13, in the embodiment illustrated, comprises four upstanding supporting walls 14, 15, 16 and 17, of sheet metal or the like, which rest along their bot tom edges upon a pedestal or table 18. The upper edges of the supporting Walls 14, 16 and 17 are provided with inturned flanges 14a, 16a and 17a, respectively, upon the upper surfaces of which are secured as by soldering or otherwise, inturned flanges 19a, a and 21a of short upstanding walls 19, 2t) and 21 which form continuations of the walls 14, 16 and 17 respectively. Secured to and resting upon the upper surfaces of these flanges 19a, 20a and 210 there is a diagonally disposed plate 22 of brass or the like which rigidities the structure thus far described and, more importantly, provides the bottom surface of a chute 23 into which the ampules are introduced one at a time by the chute 12.

The chute 23 in the end-for-end orienting means 13 is comprised of the diagonally disposed plate 22 and a pair of side walls 24 and 25 soldered or otherwise secured to the plate 22 in upstanding position. The chute 23 is of tortuous configuration and has upper and lower sections or portions that are respectively designated in Figs. 4 and 5 by the numerals 26 and 27. The upper portion of the chute is laterally curved while the lower portion has a funnel-like appearance produced by diverging and converging portions of the upstanding side walls 24 and 25. The sidewall 24 of the chute is of very flat S-shaped configuration. The sidewall 25, on the otherhand, diverges sharply from the wall 24 at 25a, where the upper portion 26 of the chute merges with the lower portion 27 thereof, and then converges at 25b toward the wall 24 toward the lower end of the chute to provide a restricted opening 28 through which the ampules emerge endwise in the direction of the arrow 29 (Fig. 5). The widest part of the chute 23 is at the junction of portions 25a and 25b of the wall 25 where the walls 24 and 25 are spaced apart a distance less than the overall length of the ampules but greater than the length of the body portions thereof.

The part 24a of the wall 24 in the lower portion 27 of the chute 23 acts as a deflecting wall for the ampules and has a rectangular opening 30 therein. As best seen in Figs. 4 and 5, ampules 31 having tubular body portions 31a and elongated neck portions 311) of reduced crosssection are directed by the laterally curved upper portion 26 of the chute 23 downwardly and obliquely toward the wall 24a and the opening 30 therein. The opening 30 is of sufficient width to receive the neck portions 31b of the ampules but not the body portions 31a thereof. Thus, Fig. 4 illustrates the manner in which those ampules that are introduced into the chute 23 in a body first direction pass through the chute. These particular ampules slide downwardly through the upper portion 26 of the chute and are discharged obliquely and downwardly against the deflecting portion 24a of the side wall 24 in the lower section 27 of the chute. Inasmuch as the body portions 31a of these ampules can not enter the opening 30, they merely strike the wall 24a and are deflected downwardly toward the discharge opening 28 of the chute where the ampules emerge in body first endwise direction.

Those ampules that are introduced into the chute 23 in a neck first direction are selectively turned end-forend as they pass through the chute. The manner in which this end-for-end orientation is accomplished is illustrated in Fig. 5 where it is shown that these ampules are directed by the laterally curved portion 26 of the chute obliquely and downwardly toward the wall 24a, whereupon the neck portions 31b of the ampules penetrate the opening 36 and the tips of the ampules strike a stop-wall 32 secured to the outer surface of the wall 24a outside the opening 3t). The stop-wall 32 is so positioned that the impact of the tips of the ampules thereagainst prevents the necks of the ampules from entering the opening 30 to such an extent that binding of the ampules in the opening might occur. The contact of the neck portions 31b of the ampules against the stopwall 32 and against the edges of the opening 3t) momentarily arrests the motion of the neck portions of tho ampules. The momentum of the body portions 31a of the ampules however continues to vary these portions downwardly with the result that the ampules are pivoted about the lower edge of the opening 30 in the direction of the arrow 33 in Fig. 5. When the body portions of these ampules have passed the opening 30 the neck portions thereof slip out of the opening and the ampules, now having been turned end-for-end, pass downwardly and emerge from the opening 28 at the lower end of the chute 23 in the same body first endwise direction as those ampules that were initially introduced into the chute with this orientation. It will thus be seen that all of the ampules, originally contained in the hopper 10 in a variety of random positions, will have the same uniform orientation as they emerge from the lower end of the chute 23.

The oriented ampules, as they leave the chute 23, are

" received by another chute 34 which conducts the ampules downwardly in endwise direction into an inspecting or other machine designated generally by the numeral 35 in Fig. 1. The entrance end of the chute 34 is off-set downwardly from the exit opening 28 of the chute 23 and means are provided by which the ampules are automatically deflected from the chute 34 only when that chute is full. To this end the short upstanding wall 19 (Fig. 1) has at its lower end a downwardly extending portion 19:: which has formed thereon an inwardly extending shelf-like element 1% having a deflecting edge on its inner extremity (Fig. 3). The shelf-like element 1% is soldered or otherwise secured to an inturned flange 15a on the support wall 15 (Fig. 2) and is provided with an up-turned wall 19d that is secured, as at 19a, to the lower end of the diagonally disposed surface plate 22. The lower end of the wall 24 of the chute 23 also extends beyond the lower end of the surface plate 22 and is provided with a downwardly extending section 24b which has formed on its lower edge a laterally extending floor 24c and a low upturned wall 24d (Fig. 3), the floor 24c being secured to the upper surface of the shelf-like element 1%. As best seen in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the floor 240 and the walls 24b and 24d form the ampule receiving end of the chute 34, this receiving end being in alignment with the lower end of the chute 23 but off-set below the exit opening 23 thereof a distance slightly more than the maximum diameter of the ampules 31. Thus, ampules emerging from the opening 28 at the lower end of the chute 23 ordinarily drop from the plate 22 onto the fioor 240 of the receiving end portion of the chute 34, whereupon they pass downwardly through an opening 36a in a wall 36 and into the chute 34 proper. Figs. 3 and 4 however illustrate how the ampules are rejected or prevented from entering the receiving end of the chute 34 when the chute and its receiving end become full of ampules, as will occur, for example, if ampules are fed from the hopper 10 at a rate faster than they can be handled by the machine 35. When this condition arises, the ampules emerging from the opening 28 at the lower end of the chute 23 slide outwardly onto the last ampule remaining in the receiving end of the chute 34 whereupon they strike a deflecting member 37, obliquely mounted on the walls 24b and 36 above the opening 36a, which deflects the ampules laterally over the short upstanding wall 24d and into a rejection chute 38 soldered or otherwise mounted upon the supporting wall 15. The rejection chute 38 may be used to direct the rejected ampules into a receptacle (not shown) which may be emptied from time to time into the hopper 10. It will be understood, of course, that as soon as the ampules again begin moving in the chute 34, rejection of ampules will be automatically discontinued since the ampules emerging from the opening 28 at the lower end of the chute 23 will again be received by the receiving end portion of the chute 34.

The device 13 may be provided with a removable cover 39 that is received by the upper edges of the walls 19, 20, 21 and 36 and, if desired, the chute 23 may be provided with bead-like members 40 for rounding the joints between the floor of the chute and its side walls 24 and 25 to insure smooth passage of the ampules through the chute.

The foregoing description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be inferred therefrom, for it will be apparent that numerous variations and changes may be made in the structure without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device for handling ampules having tubular body portions and elongated neck portions of reduced cross-section, ampule orienting means comprising, inclined chute means for slidably passing said ampules in a downward direction with substantial momentum, said chute means having communicating upper and lower portions, all transverse dimensions of said upper chute portion being less than twice the maximum transverse dimension of said ampules whereby said ampules are passed downwardly by said upper chute portion one by one and in an endwise direction only, means for introducing ampules one at a time in random endwise fashion into the upper end of said upper chute portion, a wall in said lower chute portion with an opening therein having a width greater than the maximum transverse dimension of said neck portions of said ampules and less than the maximum transverse dimension of said body portions thereof, said opening being located opposite the lower end of said upper chute portion and said wall being arranged diagonally across the path of said ampules emerging from said upper chute portion, said upper chute portion directing said ampules one at a time in said random endwise direction downwardly and obliquely toward said wall and said opening therein to cause those ampules moving with their body portions preceding their neck portions to be deflected downwardly by said wall around said opening and to cause momentary penetration of said opening by the neck portions of those ampules moving with their neck portions preceding their body portions, the penetration of said neck portions in said opening and engagement thereof with the edges of said opening retarding the advance of said neck portions until the momentum of their associated body portions has carried said body portions past the vicinity of said opening, thereby selectively turning certain of said ampules end-for-end and causing all of said ampules to proceed downwardly through said second chute portion with their body portions preceding their neck portions.

2. In a device for handling ampules having tubular body portions and elongated neck portions of reduced cross-section, ampule orienting means comprising, inclined chute means for slidably passing said ampules in a downward direction with substantial momentum, said chute means having communicating upper and lower portions, all transverse dimensions of said upper chute portion being less than twice the maximum transverse dimension of said ampules whereby said ampules are passed downwardly by said upper chute portion one by one and in an endwise direction only, means for introducing ampules one at a time in random endwise fashion into the upper end of said upper chute portion, a first imperforate wall located opposite the lower end of said upper chute portion and in the path of said ampules emerging from said upper chute portion, a second wall having an opening therein disposed between said imperforate wall and said lower end of said upper chute portion, said second wall being arranged diagonally across said path and said opening having a width greater than the maximum transverse dimension of said neck portions of said ampules and less than the maximum transverse dimension of said body portions thereof, said upper chute portion directing said ampules one at a time in said random endwise direction downwardly and obliquely toward said second wall and said opening therein to cause those ampules moving with their body portions preceding their neck portions to be deflected downwardly by said second wall around said opening and to cause momentary penetration of said opening by the neck portions of those ampules moving with their neck portions preceding their body portions, said imperforate wall and second wall being so spaced from each other that the tips of the penetrating neck portions of said ampules impinge upon said imperforate wall to limit the extent of penetration into said opening to prevent wedging of said neck portions therein, the penetration of said neck portions in said opening and engagement thereof with said imperforate wall and with the edges of said opening retarding the advance of said neck portions until the momentum of their associated body portions has carried said body portions past the vicinity of said opening, thereby selectively turning certain of said ampules end-for-end and causing all of said ampules to proceed downwardly through said second chute portion with their body portions preceding their neck portions.

3. The combination set forth in claim 2 wherein said imperforate Wall is disposed substantially normal to said path of said ampules emerging from said upper chute portion.

4. In a device for handling ampules having tubular body portions and elongated neck portions of reduced cross section, ampule orienting means comprising, a first inclined chute, means for introducing ampules one at a time in random endwise fashion into the upper end of said first chute, said chute being adapted to pass said ampules downwardly with substantial momentum, arresting means in said first chute for successively engaging the neck portions of only those ampules moving therein with their neck portions preceding their body portions and for retarding the advance of said engaged neck portions until the momentum of their associated body portions has carried said body portions past said arresting means, thereby selectively turning certain of said ampules end-for-end and causing all of said ampules to emerge from the lower end of said first chute with their body portions preceding their neck portions, a second inclined chute for receiving said ampules from the lower end of said first chute and for slidably passing said ampules downwardly in endwise direction, the entrance portion of said second chute being open at its top and being downwardly offset with respect to the exit of said first chute, said entrance portion of said second chute having an upstanding side wall having a height substantially no greater than the maximum transverse dimension of said ampules, and a deflecting wall above said entrance portion of said second chute for deflecting said ampules laterally from said second chute over the upper edge of said upstanding side wall when said second chute is full.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,456,545 Gleason May 29, 1923 FOREIGN PATENTS 627,268 Great Britain Aug. 4, 1949 

